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Cable temple

Oval cable temple eyeglasses were common from the late 18th century until after the first world war. Nose pads hadn't yet been invented so the nose bridge was what's called a saddle bridge, sitting directly on the nose. That caused cable temple eyeglasses to sit very close to the face, limiting the size of the lenses and the frame width. This is why antique eyeglass run small. The temple's were made to curve around the ear so that they wouldn't fall off when riding a horse. Cable temple eyeglasses were usually gold or silver colored, Sometimes made of solid gold or gold filled. (a heavy plating process where the gold plate is usually 10% of the total weight) With the advent of nose pads in the 1920's, these largely fell out of favor and haven't been manufactured since. Throughout the years many cable temple eyeglasses have been melted down for their scrap gold value, thus they are becoming harder to find. They still remain favorite's by many today who desire the vintage look and are generally associated with intellectuals and academia.